Constantin and I met almost 5 years ago, while working for Zalando’s private labels and soon discovered a shared love of product creation. With the vision to create a shoe brand, which is unique in design and quality, but also convincing with a fair price we founded our brand aeyde. After 6 month preparing we launched in October 2015.

Constantin: “After chatting with Luisa we were both convinced we’re onto something. We’ve made it our mission to change the shoe industry, offering customers the value they deserve for their money!“

Luisa: “Aeyde is our way to express strong women. The brand is named after Constantin’s grandmother Edit. Aeyde is our play on her nickname „Edie“. We take our inspiration from strong women and reflect it in the names of our products that carry the name of strong characters.”

We met Angelica di Gaeta, who is a Central Saint Martins graduate who previously worked at Jimmy Choo. After we decided to work together, she moved from New York to Berlin to support the brand as Creative Director.

What background in fashion design does your team have?

Angelica: I am 100% Italian, born and bread, but surrounded and brought up in a very open and international context thanks to my parents. I believe these two aspects in my life, shaped me into becoming a person who recognizes beauty but also diversity of tastes and needs in others.

I graduated in Product Design at Central Saint Martins university and consequentially specialized in shoe design by working in London and New York for the last seven years. I started off my career working mainly for prestigious, luxury brands such as Jimmy Choo and later found myself increasingly interested in exploring the other side of fashion. In January I decided to move to Berlin to fully pursue this new, exciting adventure – aeyde.

What makes your brand stand out to others?

Luisa: Aeyde is a keenly priced concept shoe brand from Berlin, produced exclusively at small family-owned shoe manufactories in Italy. The materials are carefully selected, cut and stitched by hand. We even develop our own lasts, making each pair a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. We saw that there was a huge offering on the low price point and high price point end, but no offering in the medium price range that offered style and superior quality that customers are demanding.

What kind of influence does where you live have on your work?

Angelica: Where I live is my constant source of influence. Everything that surrounds me sparks new ideas. Whether it is a stranger on the subway wearing something that attracts my attention or an interesting furniture detail in a restaurant, it doesn’t matter. My trick is: take a sneaky photo with the phone, quickly sketch on a notepad or write down a description of anything that is inspiring to me, so that I don’t forget about it.

This process is even more interesting now that I have lived in a few different cities. All cities have their own vibe, their own rhythm and their own flow. Changing city means seeing people’s different ways of living I that environment. For example, before aeyde I lived in New York, one of the most inspiring places to me. NY is fast – maybe at times, too fast: people walk quickly, speak quickly, eat quickly, but always very attentive to how they dress, whatever their style is… to each city a personal interpretation and to each interpretation, a collection.

Does sustainability play a role for Aeyde?

Yes, of course it does! Good taste is never out of season and each aeyde shoe has a life of its own. They are objects of sustainable value. The direct-to-consumer model is similarly simple with the idea that if a style proves consistently popular, it will be ultimately placed into an “evergreen assortment.”

Our Evergreen concept steers away from the traditional seasonal release schedule: Each aeyde collection carries a signature number, and expands on rather than replaces our growing assortment of timeless pieces. This fresh approach allows us to keep up with trends and ensures that every pair of aeydes is one for the ages.

Tell me about some of the challenges you face as a designer?

Angelica: I think any designer would support the idea that “if it wasn’t a challenge, it wouldn’t be so fun to do what we do!”. There is so much more to design that what hits the eye – in the shoe world, the aesthetical part of the shoe is just the result of a long “experimental process”, involving manufacturing obstacles, material mixes and techniques – all parts have to come together and work simultaneously to make a good and good-looking product the way you envisioned it. It’s important to be able to bounce back and be flexible when encountering an obstacle! Aeyde’s challenge? Making a beautiful, fashionable, well-made product and offering it to the client for a reasonable price.

Do you have dreams of collaborations?

Of course, we have dreams of future collaboration partners. The most important for us is that it is a fruitful and organically developed partnership that both sides can benefit from.